Release The Silence
by Kristyn The Kid
Summary: When two seemingly incapable young men team up to take on the one thing in the entire world that seems invincible, they learn just why everyone else is so afraid of it. Introducing Miss Heidi Kempf. Takes place after the King Of Iron Fist 5. Read it.


**Wow, KtK is writing something other than a 'Grey's Anatomy' fic! I'm surprised too.**

**Anyway, I don't know where this idea came from. I'm pretty bored waiting for Tekken 6 to reach the US so this is tiding me over until then. I always liked Hwoarang so I figured he'd have to be a main character. I put him with Steve Fox because of their short fight scene in the Tekken 5 intro where they both smile after beating the snot out of each other. It made me think that maybe they'd be plotting something or joining forces and since the real Tekken plot line never made it happen, I made it happen. Heidi Kempf just came because all the girls in Tekken annoy me and I needed a new one. So, rambling over. Enjoy.  
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He was leaned against the same brick wall, smoking, like he had done four times that day. He wished he was back in Korea. Japanese cigarettes, he said, tasted like crap. His motorcycle was parked about ten feet from where he was standing. He flicked the lit cigarette to the ground and though it seemed to spark when it hit a patch of dry leaves, he stepped on it. Secretly, though, he wished the hotel he was leaning against would burn down. Actually, he wished all of Japan would burn down. He hated Japan. All things bad came from Japan, he thought. Jin Kazama, Heihachi Mishima, The King of Iron Fist Tournament itself. They were all bad. But if Hwoarang had really hated the King of Iron Fist, he's stop entering. This would be the fourth one he'd enter.

He was sick of losing. Everyone was. Kazuya Mishima had won the first tournament. Heihachi himself had won the second win. Jin won the next three. Did Hwoarang think it was fixed? Possibly. But in his mind, even the tournament being fixed wasn't a good enough reason to justify his consecutive losses. Plus, even if he did think that the tournament was rigged, what could he do? A kid from Korea isn't going to be able to change a damn thing about it. Or at least that's what everyone thought.

He looked straight down the grey streets of the Japanese town. These were the backstreets. He could see about a quarter-mile down the road before the fog masked it. He could see a few brick buildings, a burnt-out gas station and a few street signs that he could barely read because they were in Japanese. And he could see Heidi. From where he was standing, it looked like she was mouthing off to three motorcycle skinheads. He watched for a few moments as she seemed to get herself deeper into trouble. Around the time he saw one of the bikers crack his enormous knuckles and yell something to the other two, he figured he better interfere. _I should probably go save her_, he thought. Sitting on his motorcycle, he revved the engine and took off, down towards the young woman he technically considered an opponent.

As his motorcycle neared closer to Heidi and the biker gang, the men looked up to face him. One of the larger bikers ran towards Hwoarang, pounding his fists in the air and yelling something in Japanese. Rolling his eyes, Hwoarang brought his right hand off the bike handles and punched the oversized thug in his jaw, flipping him onto his back. He rode towards them, turning his bike so he could get closer to Heidi and as he passed her, he hooked his right arm around her waist and pulled her onto the back of his bike seat. He gave the gang the finger as he rode off into the fog beyond them. Heidi wrapped her arms around Hwoarang's midsection, in an attempt not to fall off. Hwoarang brought his bike to a halt in front of an abandoned building about a half-mile away from where he had just saved Heidi. As soon as she got off the back of his bike, she pushed Hwoarang back by his chest.

"What did you do that for?" She scolded, folding her arms over her chest. The wind blew her shoulder-length hair behind her as she yelled. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Uh, you're welcome?" He answered, confused as he scratched the back of his neck.

"I could've fought all three of those bikers, Hwoarang," She ranted. She annunciated his name to demean him but he really could've cared less and just watched her in confusion as she paced back and forth. He tried to make sense of anything she was saying (she was talking pretty fast) but before he could translate, she started to yell at him again. "I was _looking_ for a fight and you pretty much just ruined it for me," She finished. He stared at her.

"Are you out of your mind, _Heidi_," He replied, annunciating 'Heidi' in the same tone she had mockingly called him a moment earlier. "Those bikers would've crushed you to dust if I didn't go get you." She scoffed and shook her head at him, as if her attitude even slightly mattered to Hwoarang who had all but lost interest in whatever Heidi's point was. "You should be thanking me."

"Yeah, right," Heidi added in. "Thanks for ruining my practice fight."

"Practice fight?" Hwoarang sneered. "You mean you've actually gone through with it? You entered the tournament?" He ended his question with a laugh but Heidi didn't share in his amusement.

"Why wouldn't I have?" She insisted. "I'm a great fighter and it's a fighting tournament." He shot her a look of disbelief, as if he couldn't understand the last thing she had said.

"A fighting tour-" He stammered, his mind almost numb from shock. Is that what she saw this as? A competition to see who had the hardest punch? Did she not understand all of the background, the history that went along with this? "You are going to get yourself killed if you think that the King of Iron Fist tournament is just a karate tournament."

"You think it's more than that?"

"I _know_ it's more than that," Hwoarang answered her, so quickly she had barely finished saying 'that'. He shook his head, still in shock at her ignorance, then started his motorcycle. He waited a good ten seconds and then turned to her. "Well, come on."

"Come on, what?" She asked, still pouting at him for snapping at her.

"Get on the bike, chick." He fired back. "It's obvious that if you don't come with me and learn about just what the hell you've gotten yourself into that you're going to die. So let's go. Come on." She stared at him for a few moments, not quite sure as to what he was trying to do. "Let's go, Heidi. You'll be staying with me." Reluctantly, she climbed on the back of the bike, hooking her arms around him again for security.

Hwoarang was pretty sure he would regret this. Actually, he was certain he would. Heidi was already annoying him and they were only about ten minutes into the long journey that they would endure together. He had actually met Heidi quite some time before the biker-gang-incident. All of the King of Iron First tournament contestants were at least generally aware of the others. Even if they entered the tournament blindly, most had scouts, or people whom they hired to gather information on the competitors. Hwoarang had a scout that he had hired during the fourth tournament. His name was Lao Zan and he was a fellow Korean native. He proved loyal to Hwoarang and in return for his loyalty, Hwoarang paid him well. Loyalty and compensation aside, Lao always provided Hwoarang with top-notch background information on the fellow competitors, including Miss. Heidi Kempf.

"She's from America," Lao told Hwoarang a few months back. He was pulling papers from his leather briefcase. He had a portfolio filled with information, data and records related to the tournament and everyone in it.

"Good for her," Hwoarang muttered, propping his feet on his desk and leaning back in his chair. He rolled his eyes as Lao read off what he had written about Heidi. When Lao showed him a picture of her, he just laughed at the diminutive young woman who was supposedly an opponent. She looked to be only about 5'2, maybe 5'3. She couldn't have weighed more than 110lbs. Her hair was light blonde with streaks of darker color. She didn't look anything like what Hwoarang thought a fighter should look like. He crumpled up the information sheet that Lao gave him and tossed it over his shoulder, claiming he didn't need to know anything about someone who wasn't, in his mind, competition. He had pretty much assumed that it was the last time he'd ever have to hear about her, anyway. He was wrong, though, and now she was sitting on the back of his motorcycle and he was kicking himself, wondering why he couldn't have just kept smoking and ignored what had been happening down the road a few minutes earlier.

When they pulled up to the hotel entrance, Heidi was a bit skeptical.

"You live here?" She asked, almost in a sarcastic tone that made Hwoarang just shake his head and blow a piece of red hair out of his eyes. He led Heidi to the hotel suite that he had been calling home for several months. She was surprised to see how clean the suite was since Hwoarang didn't exactly seem to be an organized individual by nature. Seeming to prove her point, Hwoarang tossed his keys and wallet onto the table and kicked his shoes off towards the white leather couch near the wall, then headed to the next room. Heidi followed behind him. Steve Fox was busy typing away at his computer when Hwoarang came up behind him.

"Hey, man." Steve called when he heard footsteps approach him. He spun around in his chair to find his friend standing beside and unfamiliar blonde. Heidi flashed him a smile. "Hello," He greeted, his British accent being the first thing Heidi noticed. "Mind my asking, darling, but who might you be?"

"Heidi Kempf." She replied, offering her hand to shake. Steve respectfully leaned forward.

"Steve Fox," He answered, kissing the top of her hand lightly. When Hwoarang saw Heidi blush and smile, he rolled his eyes for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.

"That charming British thing he does," Hwoarang began, throwing himself into a chair. "He only does it if there's a chick around." Steve laughed softly, typed a few final things on his keyboard than arose from where he was seated.

"Please, sit." He said to Heidi, motioning towards the chair. Heidi complied. Steve leaned against the back wall. No one said anything for a brief minute. "Not to be rude, love, but may I ask why you're here?" Heidi cocked her head to one side and glared at Hwoarang.

"Ask him." She sneered. "He's making me stay here with you guys." Steve frowned at Hwoarang who was rolling his eyes at her yet again.

"You really be more appreciative," Hwoarang snapped. "I saved you from getting your ass kicked and I invited you into my home."

"It's a hotel." Heidi corrected.

"Well, it's still _my _home!" He barked back.

"Woah, there." Steve interrupted. "Calm down." He said to Hwoarang, then turned his attention to Heidi. "Please excuse his manners. He was raised by wolves." Heidi smiled at his remark though Hwoarang just shook his head. It took a few minutes but Hwoarang managed to explain himself to Steve. He told him about the biker gang. He told him about how Heidi was in the tournament. He told him about how he was fairly certain that if she _didn't_ stay with them, she was going to get herself killed. "That's quite a story." Steve declared when Hwoarang was done explaining. "Well, Heidi, you're welcome to stay with us for as long as you'd like."

"Thank you," Heidi said, smiling at Steve. When she took a quick glance around the room, she noticed all the high-tech computer equipment and all the pieces of paper with words and numbers printed on them; words and numbers that she definitely didn't understand. "So, uh, what exactly is it that you two boys do here?" Hwoarang and Steve shot each other nervous looks. Hwoarang then dropped his eyes to the floor while Steve scratched the back of his neck.

"Well," Steve started uncomfortably. "That's quite difficult to explain. It's kind of classified. Top-secret information type stuff, if that makes any sense."

"Oh come on," Heidi laughed. "You can tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone your secret." She smiled again, not really believing that these two young men in front of her were capable of anything that could be considered 'top-secret'. Steve looked back at Hwoarang who was now sitting with his elbows rested on his knees.

"Might as well tell her, Steve." He sneered. "If she's staying here, she'll find out eventually." Steve sighed and looked to Heidi. His expression was mostly blank though hinted his slight uncertainty.

"This stays within these four walls, yes?" He questioned. Heidi nodded. Steve took a deep breath, looked at Hwoarang once more then looked to the blonde a few feet from him. "We're going to take down the Mishima Zaibatsu."

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_**"Into this town,  
I stand unfound,  
No place to call our own,  
No way to ever know." - Your Sweet Uncertainty.**_


End file.
